This
article will evolve over time as more research is completed.
I need photos from these events. If anyone has any, I'd
really appreciate seeing them!

The 2004 season
saw the first year of the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series at Delaware Speedway
and Autodrome Old Milwaukee. In addition, "NASCAR Canada"
was announced in June, 2004 and CASCAR's partnership with NASCAR in
the fall. With these events many stock car fans are saying to themselves,
"Well, it's about time NASCAR recognized Canada."

This isn't the first time Canada has been on NASCAR's radar. Some
fans will remember the NASCAR North Series from the late 1970's and
early 1980's. Slightly older fans will remember the first NASCAR-Canada
sanctioning body from the mid 1970's or the Winston West series events
in British Columbia. Even older fans will remember that the NASCAR
Grand National Series (the old name for the Nextel Cup) came to the
CNE in 1958 but for NASCAR's first foray into Canada we have to go
back even farther, to 1952.

1952 Grand National Race
Stamford Park Race Track, near Niagara Falls, was the site of Canada's
first NASCAR race on July 1, 1952. Stamford was a flat, half-mile
dirt horse track that also ran stock car races beginning in 1948.
About 4,000 fans were on hand to see the 100 lap event. Buddy Shuman,
from Charlotte, NC, driving a Hudson Hornet won the race by 2 laps
over second place finisher Herb Thomas. Shuman took the lead on lap
71 and led the remaining laps. Seventeen cars started the race but
the rough track caused high attrition with only 6 drivers finishing.
Admission was $1.75 for the event.

1958 Grand National RaceThe
next visit for the NASCAR Grand National division was on July 18,
1958. The track was the 1/3 mile oval at the Canadian National Exhibition
grounds in Toronto. Over 9,700 fans were in attendance for the evening
which also included the regular CNE modified stock car division (early
version of a super modified). There were three heat races with the
winners being Shorty Rollins, Lee Petty and Cotton Owens. In the 100
lap feature Lee Petty took over the lead on lap 72 and held on for
the victory. The event was fairly incident-free except for some minor
spins due to the track still being somewhat wet from a heavy rain
earlier in the evening. The purse for this race was $4200.

Of interest, is that this was Richard Petty's first Grand National
race. He had previously competed in a few NASCAR Convertible Division
races. In an event that is now famous in Petty lore, Richard crashed
out of the race after being bumped by his father.

Another interesting note on this race was the attitude that the local
Toronto papers took toward it. More coverage was given to the regular
CNE Speedway Modified Division races and the papers took the view
that the NASCAR race was boring.